(Bloomberg) For centuries the rolling hills of Sussex in southern England have grown barley for local beer brewers. Now former hedge-fund manager Mark Driver is replacing the grain on his land with grapes in a bid to challenge Champagne.
Driver, one of a number of exiles from London’s financial district who are investing in U.K. sparkling wine, is spending more than 14 million pounds ($20 million) of his own money to transform Rathfinny Estate, which overlooks the English Channel about 70 miles south of London, into the U.K.’s biggest vineyard.
